Lyrick Studios
Lyrick Studios was an American video production and distribution company based in Allen, a Dallas suburb. The company was best known for its distribution of home videos, audio products, children's books and toys for the children's television series Barney & Friends and for the TV series Wishbone. This company was also known for its production and distribution of home videos, audio products, children's books, toys, video games, 2D and CGI animation, visual effects, feature-length motion pictures, and television shows. History The company traces its origins to 1988, when The Lyons Group was formed as a division of DLM, Inc (Developmental Learning Materials), an educational company owned by Richard C. Leach. Lyons began producing and distributing a direct-to-video series titled Barney and the Backyard Gang, which was created by Sheryl Leach, the daughter-in-law of Richard. Three years after the home video series debuted, Barney caught the attention of PBS executives, and the concept was subsequently revamped for television. Barney & Friends began airing on the Public Broadcasting Service on April 6, 1992, presented by CPTV from 1992-2005, and from 2006-2010 by WNET. Lyrick Studios was formed in 1994, and the Lyons Group became a division of the new company under the name Lyons Partnership. Dick Leach, creator of Barney, became the company's CEO in 1997. The company developed the Wishbone series for PBS in 1995, a show about a talking dog living in the fictional town of Oakdale, Texas. This series was produced by Big Feats! Entertainment, another Lyrick division. The series was filmed at the studio and on location in Plano. By the late 1990s, Lyrick Studios turned its primary focus on distribution of children's TV shows and films and Sony Wonder's lease trial with Lyrick Studios expired and Lyrick became independent. Lyrick acquired the distribution rights for VeggieTales and The Wiggles, and also distributed book publishing and video gaming rights for some Humongous Entertainment video game characters like Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, and Pajama Sam. In February 9, 2001, the company was acquired by HIT for a $275-million deal. most of its' VHS tapes still used the Lyrick logo with the HiT logo until August 31st when it was folded into the company. in 2013, Comcast revived Lyrick Studios as a film production arm of Focus Features. in 2016, Focus World was folded into this company. Filmography * Groundling Marsh: Courageous Adventures (June 23, 1998) (with Portfolio Entertainment and Jim Henson Productions) * Barney: Imagination Island (July 18, 2000) * Barney: Fun & Games (July 18, 2000) * Barney: Sense-Sational Day (August 8, 2000) * Digimon Bash: Kids for Character 3 (June 23, 2019) (with DreamWorks Home Entertainment, Steve Rotfeld Productions, Toei Animation, Nelson Entertainment and Saban Entertainment) (with co-production with Century III Productions, SCE Corp, Cyber Entertainment, Omniverse Productions, Masta Mind Enterprises and Rubbah Slippah Productions) (with brought to you by Josephson Institute of Ethics) (with generous contributions from McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Friendly's, Chili's, Applebee's, Denny's, Chick-fil-A, Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's, Subway, Southern California Children's Museum, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Hasbro Children's Fund, Intel, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, National Kidney Foundation, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Man of Action Entertainment)